The Twirl Technique

For the October Education Night, Elyssa presented the twirl technique. This technique uses a number of different Photoshop filters to create abstract, digital images. The basic method to create a twirl starts with bringing a photograph into Photoshop. First run the Mezzotint filter, then zoom blur, duplicate the layer. Next, run the Twirl filter on each layer in opposite directions followed by changing the blending modes of the layers to bring out different colors and patterns. After demonstrating the basic technique, Elyssa went over some advanced variations of the process. A more detailed tutorial by Pure Emotions Photography can be seen HERE

A basic twirl technique image

A more advanced image using the wave filter and rotating multiple layers 15 degrees

After the basic twirl was created, 2 duplicate layers were made and offset a few inches, one to the left and one moved to the right